Clemson Baseball: The Bakich Era is under way

In a wide-ranging opening statement and question and answer session with the media, Clemson Baseball Coach Erik Bakich shared his vision for the team, where they’re at as “spring training” begins and expectations for the team.

While stating that no roles have been defined yet, Bakich followed that up by saying there were “obvious” situations and positions where certain players had a history of success and therefore perhaps a “leg up” on the competition.

Some names that may fit in that category are Ben Blackwell, Caden Grice, Tyler Corbett, Blake Wright and Cooper Ingle.

There is competition in the outfield and a “lot of guys” that can be part of the rotation, including converted reliever Ryan Ammons, and believes there are 6 to 8 guys that are capable of starting on the pitching staff.

Observations from Friday’s initial practice were plenty, but a few things caught my attention and they’re things that we’ve written about here and talked about on the Sluggo Podcast a lot – bunting and baserunning.

Clemson Baseball began on-field practice focusing on the fundamentals

While I’m not advocating small ball to the hilt, there are times that a team can benefit greatly from moving a runner over and the baserunning has been atrocious in recent seasons, sometimes giving up 3 or more outs a game on the bases.

Other notable topics include the praise of freshman Cam Cannarella, who Bakich sees as a utility-type player who can play all over the field, except for catcher and pitcher.

It also appears that freshman catcher Jacob Jarrell will get some time behind the plate as Cooper Ingle recovers from injury.

On Friday, a four inning scrimmage ended in a 1-0 final, as pitching dominated.

On Saturday, they went 6 innings that ended in a 3-3 tie as Bakich sorts it all out, with a 3rd scrimmage scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m.